Archive for January 2014
Where Is It: The Park is very near the Canadian border, and about 30 miles from Kalispell, MT.
The Birth: From ParkVision:
The first white man to visit the park area was David Thompson of the Hudson Bay Company, in the 1780’s, and the park was also spotted by members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition as well although overcast skies prevented them from seeing the mountains of the area. The first white man who traveled through the park lands themselves passed through in 1810, and the area was later mapped by a survey party led by A.W. Tinkham in 1853. A railroad south of the park was established through Marias Pass, the lowest altitude pass through the Rockies between Canada and Mexico, in 1891. Although some prospecting and mining activity took place in the park area, these activities in general were not successful and disappeared.
Additional attention to the features of the park was gathered by the work of artist James Madison Alden, who accompanied a surveying party in 1860. George Grinnell, a journalist, who came to the area to publicize the impoverished plight of the Blackfeet in the late 19th century, wrote an article about the park area in 1891 for Forest and Stream, helping to spread the word about the natural wonders in the area. Grinnell, called the “father of Glacier National Park”, and Charles N. Pray, a Montana congressman, championed the idea of creating a national park in the area. Glacier National Park was finally created on May 11, 1910. In 1932, as a result of an effort by the Rotary Club, Canada’s Waterton National Park across the border and Glacier were together named as the first “international peace park.” The two parks cooperate on wildlife management, scientific research and some visitor services, although the parks themselves are separately administered.
President Taft made this the 10th National Park. Today, it is one of the ten most visited National Parks.
Size: 1,013,322 acres
# Visitors: 2,190,374 visitors in 2013. July had the peak attendance, and December was the least-attended month.
Plants: This very large Park has ecosystems ranging from prairie to tundra. Forests of red cedar and hemlock are in the southern part of the Park.
Animals: You can see grizzly, moose and mountain goats in the park. More elusive are wolverines and the Canadian lynx.
Choices: From NationalGeographic.com:
Water originating in Glacier National Park—much of it from snowmelt—can be considered the headwater of the continent. Water that runs down Triple Divide Peak flows in three directions, eventually winding up in the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and Hudson Bay.
Fees: This is an expensive park!
Summer Rate – $25.00
May 1 – October 31
Winter Rate – $15.00
November 1 – April 30
Staying There: Two lodges are within the Park boundary: Many Glacier Hotel on Swiftcurrent Lake, and Lake McDonald Lodge.
There are ten campgrounds in the Park, plus backpackers can stay in backcountry sites. Make reservations at Fish Creek or St. Mary Campgrounds … or through the National Park Reservation Service: 1-800-365-2267. Campgrounds are typically full in July and August.
Contact Info:
Glacier National Park
Park Headquarters
PO Box 128
West Glacier, MT 59936
(406) 888-7800
Current Issues: The glaciers within the Park are melting. This has been tracked for decades … read about it here.
Glenns Lake. From the Park’s website.
Yellow Warbler. From the Park’s website.
Virginia Falls. From the Park’s website.
Coyote. From the Park’s website.
Avalanche Lake. From the Park’s website.
From the Park’s Facebook page.
Monkey Flower. From the Park’s website.
From the Park’s Facebook page.
Huckleberry. From the Park’s website.
Glacier Lily. From the Park’s website.
Blanket Flower. From the Park’s website.
Arnica. From the Park’s website.
From the Park’s Facebook page.
From the Park’s Facebook page.
From the Park’s Facebook page.
From the Park’s Facebook page.
From the Park’s Facebook page.
From the Park’s Facebook page.
Tweeted by the US Department of the Interior, 10/21/13.
Tweeted by the US Department of the Interior, 12/9/13.
Tweeted by the US Department of the Interior, 5/9/14.
More
National Park Service: Glacier National Park
Terra Galleria: Glacier National Park
Patrick Mangan Blog: Glacier National Park 2010
WolfharttImages: Glacier National Park
EnjoyYourParks.com: Glacier Park
Flickr: Glacier National Park
GlacierParkPhotos.com
There are few things as beautiful as Yosemite National Park. Photo from 2012. Photo: Leasha Hooker . Tweeted by the US Department of the Interior, 1/10/14.
Olympic National Park. Photo by Marco Crupi. Tweeted by the US Department of the Interior, 1/9/14.
Ingredients
- Two slices of bacon
- 1/4 of a medium onion
- 1 pound of fresh green beans
- Season salt & fresh ground black pepper to taste
Directions
Slice & dice bacon into small pieces. Brown in medium skillet until golden. Add finely minced onion. Saute until translucent. Snip stem ends off of green beans. Leave whole, or cut into 2″ pieces. Add to skillet. Season with season salt and freshly ground black pepper. Stir fry 2-3 minutes. Add 1/4 cup water. Cover & cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until green beans are tender.
One of few jobs I am qualified to do in Velda’s kitchen.
Aurora Borealis tweeted by the US Department of the Interior, 12/11/13.
The Northern Lights.
What are they? Proof that there is life on Earth.
The are actually produced from millions of explosions of magnetic energy. The earth’s atmosphere shields the Earth from storms of molecules driven out of the sun (“solar wind”) which are then attracted by the magnetic poles. Without the atmosphere protecting us, then there would be no life on earth due to the solar wind.
Aurora Borealis photographed near Kanuti National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.
Millions of particles collide with our atmosphere, and release photons … which glow. Different kinds of molecules glow with different colors.
In 1621, Pierre Gassendi, a French scientist, saw the Northern Lights and named them after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Roman god of the north wind, Boreas (which he changed to Borealis).
Hence, Aurora Borealis in the north … and Aurora Australis in the south. The lights are seen after dusk in both hemispheres, near the poles.
The Aurorae are harmless to life, but do cause power disruptions in satellite communications and in radio and TV broadcasts.
Click on this link to see an amazing video from the US Department of the Interior: Aurora Borealis.
Here’s another video, sent out via instagram by the US Department of the Interior on January 7, 2014.
The sky over Denali National Park, the week of February 17, 2014. Photo by Daniel A. Leifheit. Tweeted by the US Department of the Interior, 2/21/14.
More
How Stuff Works: How Does The Aurora Borealis….
Geophysical Institute: Aurora Forecast
Denali National Park: Aurora Borealis photographs
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, or SEKI in the National Park Service. These contiguous Parks are jointly managed and provide some of the prettiest views in the Sierra Mountains. Tweeted by the US Department of the Interior on January 6, 2014.
Where Is It: The Park is 90 minutes west of Durango, CO, or about 4 hours northwest of Albuquerque, NM.
The Birth: The Park traces the history of “the Ancient People” from about 550 AD. It is estimated that the population at the site reached several thousand around the year 1200. Those inhabitants are now known as the Ancestral Puebloans.
President Theodore Roosevelt signed the bill creating the Park in 1906.
It Happened Here: From Mesa.Verde.National-Park.com:
Most of the cliff dwellings were built from the late 1190’s to the late 1270’s. They range in size from one-room houses to villages of more than 200 rooms – Cliff Palace. Architecturally, there is no standard ground plan. The builders fit their structures to the available space. Most walls were single courses of stone, perhaps because the alcove roofs limited heights and also protected them from erosion by the weather. The masonry work varied in quality; rough construction can be found alongside walls with well-shaped stones. Many rooms were plastered on the inside and decorated with painted designs.
Kiva is a Hopi word for ceremonial room. The kiva at Mesa Verde were underground chambers that may be compared to churches of later times. Based upon modern Pueblo practices, Ancestral Puebloans may have used these rooms to conduct healing rites or to pray for rain, luck in hunting, or good crops. Kivas also serve as gathering places, and sometimes as a place to weave. A roof of beams and mud covered each kiva, supported by pilasters. Access was by ladder through a hole in the center of the roof. The small hole in the floor is a sipapu, the symbolic entrance to the underworld.
The Ancestral Puebloans lived in the cliff dwellings for less than 100 years. By about 1300 Mesa Verde was deserted. There are several theories about the reason for their migration. We know that the last quarter of the century was a time of drought and crop failures, but these people had survived earlier droughts. Maybe after hundreds of years of intense use, the land and its resources – the soil, forests, and animals – were depleted. Perhaps there were social and political problems, and the people looked for new opportunities elsewhere.
Size: 52,485 acres
# Visitors: 572,329 in 2011.
Plants: From the Park’s website:
Mesa Verde National Park supports four major plant communities, all of which fall within the semi-arid Transitional and Upper Sonoran Live Zones.
- The shrub-steppe community in the lower elevations is dominated by big sagebrush, rabbitbrush, and several herbaceous species. It flourishes in dry canyon bottoms, in burned areas, and in the transition zone between the mountain shrub community and the pinyon-juniper woodlands.
- The pinyon-juniper woodland is dominated by Utah juniper and Colorado pinyon pine. This community is also known as the “pygmy forest,” as both of these tree species rarely exceed 30 feet in height.
- The mountain shrub community stretches across the park from east to west, in a broad swath which extends several miles south from the north rim of the cuesta, at elevations above 7500 feet. Typical plant species here include Gambel oak, Utah serviceberry, mountain mahogany, cliff fendlerbush, and various bunch grasses and flowering perennials.
- The Gambel oak-Douglas-fir woodland is found at higher elevations along the north rim and in sheltered areas in some canyons. A few relic stands of quaking aspen occur at higher elevations.
Animals: From the Park’s website:
The park has been named a Colorado Important Bird Area (IBA) by the Audubon Society, and has two Protected Activity Centers and three breeding Core Areas for the threatened Mexican Spotted Owl totaling 5,312 acres.
The park’s geographic isolation and its location in a geographic transition zone, help provide niches for this wide variety of animal species. Currently, about 74 species of mammals, 200 species of birds, 16 species of reptiles, five species of amphibians, six species of fishes (four of which are native), and over 1,000 species of insects and other invertebrates spend at least part of the year within park boundaries.
Choices: From MesaVerdeCountry.com:
Tour tickets are required for ranger-guided tours of Cliff Palace, Balcony House, or Long House. Tour tickets may be purchased at the Colorado Welcome Center in Cortez, or at the Visitor and Research Center located at the park entrance. Be sure to stop at the Visitor Center before traveling into the Park. It is 21 miles from the park entrance to the sites and museum on Chapin Mesa. Driving time into the park depends on traffic and weather conditions.
Fees: Vehicles are $10 for a 7-day pass in the off season, and $15 between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
Staying There: Morefield Campground has 267 spaces, and rarely fills. The campground is closed in the winter, but primitive camping is still available.
Contact Info:
PO Box 8
Mesa Verde, CO 81330-0008
Headquarters – 970-529-4465
Visitor Information – 970-529-4465
Don’t Miss This: This Park is a part of the “Grand Circle,” which is a vacation destination for many. Take a couple of weeks, and you can visit all five Utah National Parks, in addition to the nearby Grand Canyon National Park, Mesa Verde National Park, Monument Valley and Lake Powell.
From the Park’s Facebook page.
From the Park’s Facebook page.
From the Park’s Facebook page.
From the Park’s Facebook page.
From the Park’s Facebook page.
From the Park’s Facebook page.
From the Park’s Facebook page.
From the Park’s website.
From the Park’s website.
From the Park’s website.
From the Park’s website.
From the Park’s website.
From the Park’s website.
Yellow-Headed Collared Lizard. From the Park’s website.
Western Rattlesnake. From the Park’s website.
Spotted Owl. From the Park’s website.
Western Tanager. From the Park’s website.
Wild Turkey. From the Park’s website.
More
National Park Service: Mesa Verde National Park
Jason’s Travels: Exploring Mesa Verde National Park
Schatze Page (Lauren Bacall): I can’t shack up with a dame I’ve never met before and she’s crazy too!
Pola Debevoise (Marilyn Monroe): You don’t have to. She’ll come up and you’ll see if you like her. If you don’t…
Schatze Page: Is she any help to this?
Pola Debevoise: Let’s see
[over the phone to Loco]
Pola Debevoise: Hey Loc, how much money you got?
Loco Dempsey (Betty Grable): [on the phone] I got a quarter.
Pola Debevoise: Great. Pick up lunch on your way over.
Loco Dempsey: Ok, how many.
Pola Debevoise: Three
Loco Dempsey: Ok, I’ll be there in 15 minutes.
[hangs up]
Schatze Page: Well that’s a big contribution to a million dollar proposition. One whole quarter!
Pola Debevoise: Maybe, but she’s awfully clever with a quarter.
Publicity shot of Marilyn Monroe, Lauren Bacall and Betty Grable in the 1953 release of 20th Century Fox’s “How To Marry A Millionaire.” Courtesy of Shorpy Historical Photos.
More
IMDb: How To Marry A Millionaire
Shorpy Historical Photos: How To Marry A Millionaire
A stunning view of the Wave in the Paria Canyon – Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness – in Airzona. Photo is uncropped and unenhanced.
Photo: Adam Marland. Posted on Tumblr by the US Department of the Interior, 1/3/14.
Where Is It: The Park is on the island of Hawai`i. It’s 30 miles from Hilo, or 96 miles from Kailua-Kona.
The Birth: Kilauea and its Halemaʻumaʻu caldera were traditionally considered the sacred home of the volcano goddess Pele.
President Woodrow Wilson signed the Park into existence in 1916. It was the 11th National Park in the US, but the first created in a Territory.
It Happened Here: In April 2013, a 15-year old boy tried leaping over a barrier surrounding a steam vent … and fell 25′ into the vent. He survived with minor injuries.
In August 2013, a 73-year old man climbed over a barrier on a trail, and then fell down a 115′ cliff. He was not discovered until a day later, when another hiker heard his cries for help. He suffered injuries to his pelvis and shoulder.
Age doesn’t matter: stay behind the barriers. Volcanoes are a dangerous place!
Size: 323,431 acres
# Visitors: 1,483,928 in 2012.
Plants: From the Park’s website:
Along the wind-scoured coastal plain, lone tendrils of an a’e fern peer from cracks in endless flows of hardened lava. At the Park’s mid-elevation, blazing blooms of ‘ohi’a trees and towering fronds of giant hapu’u, a tree fern, rise amid a tangle of misty rain forest. Miles above, the distinctive rosette of the endangered Mauna Loa silversword clings to an alpine ledge. Evolving over 70 million years ago in nearly complete isolation, more than 90% of the State’s native flora are found only in the Hawaiian Islands. Today, the Park harbors the descendents of those first colonizers—numerous evolutionary marvels such as mintless mints and nettleless nettles—plants adapted to life without plant-eating mammals.
Animals: The Park is the home of carnivorous caterpillars, crickets that like new lava flows, Honu, the endangered sea turtles, the largest dragonfly in the US, and just one terrestrial mammal: a bat.
Choices: Most visitors want to go see “live lava,” and that is not easy. Read about our visit to the Park on our 30th Anniversary … and how unprepared we were … here. That new lava flow, by the way, adds to the size of the state of Hawaii, as all new lava is officially state property.
Fees: Entrance is $10 per vehicle for a 7-day pass.
Staying There: Volcano House has only 33 rooms in the hotel, plus 10 cabins and campsites that it manages. It’s difficult to get reservations with that few opportunities available, obviously, so plan ahead.
Backcountry camping is by permit only for groups of 12 or less, who can only hike for 3 nights. You must register at the Kilauea Visitor Center prior to departure. You are required to hike out everything you pack in. All trash must be packed out.
Contact Info:
P.O. Box 52
Hawaii National Park, HI 96718-0052
(808) 985-6000
Current Issues: The park is being overrun by non-native ungulates.
And who would like that?
These “non-natives” have been a part of the island for centuries in some cases … but that’s not native enough for the Park staff. They have a plan now in place to shoot most of the feral pigs, goats and axis deer. They’re also thinking of using either a boundary fence for the entire park, or limited regional fencing within the Park. For the details of the whys and hows, read about it here.
A geologist takes a lava sample in the Park. Tweeted by the US Department of the Interior 10/25/13.
View of Halema‘uma‘u from Jaggar Museum Overlook as darkness falls. Photo by Ed Shiinoki. From the Park’s website.
Halema‘uma‘u at night viewed from Jaggar Museum Overlook. Photo by Keith Burnett. From the Park’s website.
Nene ‘ohana. From the Park’s website.
Entering Nahuku – Thurston Lava Tube. Photo by Michael Szoenyi. From the Park’s website.
Group walking through Nahuku – Thurston Lava Tube. Michael Szoenyi. From the Park’s website.
Steam vents. From the Park’s website.
Lava trees are formed when fast moving lava flows around a tree. The cool and moist trunk causes the lava to crust around the tree. When the flow is short lived, it drains off leaving behind standing lava trees. From the Park’s website.
From the Park’s Facebook page.
From the Park’s Facebook page.
More
National Park Service: Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park
National Parks Of The Pacific Islands: Where’s The Lava?
BigIslandVideoNews.com: Kalauea….
Jason’s Travels: Exploring Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
MowryJournal.com: Earth Should Not Steam, Right?
Where Is It: The Park is very near the Canadian border, and about 30 miles from Kalispell, MT.
